Introduction:
in the traditional sports like the fight, natural products from minerals, animals and plants are used to increase physical resistance and performance. For a better understanding of this practice, an ethnopharmacological survey was carried out in kabyè land, North of Togo, to identify current plants used as foods plants during traditional wrestling.

Methods:
ethnopharmacological data were collected through semi-structured method and
personal interviews in the Kabyè locality during traditional wrestling. At least,
twelve villages were surveyed in the study.

Results:
results indicated that 57 plants are widely used by local people as food plants generally during wrestling time. These plants are used traditionally for many others purposes.

Conclusion:
we concluded that these plants may serve as sources for pharmacological investigations in physical performance improvement.

Introduction

Medicinal plants have been an integral part of life in many communities
both for food and drug [1]. In many African communities,
collection and consumption of wild plant from agricultural and
non-agricultural ecosystems has been documented in multiple cultural
contexts, illustrating
their use and importance among farming households throughout the
world [2].
The evidence to date suggests that gathering by farmers occurs
in various environments, ranging from intensively farmed areas,
to more subsistence
oriented horticultural systems, and finally in more pristine areas
such as forests. Throughout worldwide and particularly in poor
countries, people
depend on the forest resources for several purposes like for forest
products, medications, food, etc [3].
Many plants have been studied with the aims to improve the Physical performance,
but only some of them have been defined to use as stimulant to
recover after intense efforts and with anti-fatigue effects [4].
The plants which have shown positive results in scientific studies,
with the
purpose of improving physical performance, were: Rhodiola rosea
[5-10],
Eleutherococcus senticosus [11], Schizandra chinensis
[12], Panax ginseng [13, 14].
Other plants with similar effects are Rubuscoreanus [15],
Pseudosasa japónica [16, 17],
Chines bamboo [18], Anoectochilus formosanus [19],
Camelli sinensis [20] and Allium sativum [4, 21].
Extracts from these plants and several adaptogens complexes, as
Erkang [22],
also showed improvements in mental resistance, greater concentration
and physical development [12, 23, 24].
The Kabyè people of Togo, mostly dependent on nature for their livelihood and
they use plenty of wild plants as vegetables in their daily food. Despite the
vast knowledge of medicinal plants from Togo, a few attempts have been carried
out to document ethnobotanical knowledge in this locality. Some researchers have
investigating the traditional pharmacopoeia and medicinal plants in different
areas of the country [25-31]. Although these investigations,
no studies are undertook on food plant used in perspective to increase physical
performance in sportsmen. The aim of this study was to explore and identify
some important plant species currently use as food or medicinal plants during
traditional wrestling by young sportsmen.

Methods

Ethnobotanical data

The study was undertaken during three months (June- August) 2011 by conducting
survey in twelve villages throughout the area of Kara. A total of 154 informants
were interviewed, of which 96 were wrestlers (age 18-25 years), 10 herbalists
and traditional healers (age 27-83 years) in 12 localities. Repeated queries
were made to get the data conformed. The preparation of some foods item were
observed,
tasted and documented. Ethnobotanical data were collected using questionnaire
as suggested by Jain and Goel [32]. Moreover, interviews
and discussions in their local dialect to seek the following information about
plants: local name, plants part(s) used. Regarding to taxonomy and phytogeographical
types, plant species were systematically identified by the Department of Botany
(Faculty of Sciences, University of Lome - Togo). The plant specimens were preserved
at the herbarium of the faculty using technique previously described [33].

Results

Ethnobotanical findings

The present investigation in Kabyès communities, recorded 57 plants species (Table
1, Table
2, Table
3, Table
4, Table
5) which are used currently during festivals of wrestling. Those species
are enumeratedbelow along with their botanical names, plant families, local names,
part used and traditional indications (anti-fatigue or antistress uses). The
results obtained showed that foods plants are still widely used by the population
of Kabyè land during traditional festival of wrestling. The data gathered with
the informants during the discussions or during the field trips indicate the
high level of knowledge of the traditional healers in this region. The botanical
investigation showed that the three most represented families are Anacardiaceae
(3 species), Bombaceae (3 species), Zingiberaceae (3 spieces),followed by fourteen
families with two species (Alliaceace, Asteraceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Euphorbiaceae,
Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Poaceae, Palmeae, Rubiaceae, Sterculiaceae, Solanaceae,
Sapindaceae, Verbenaceae) and nineteen family with one species (Asphodeliaceae,
Arecaceae, Araceae, Bromeliaceae, Combretaceae, Caricaceae, Capparaceae, Convolvulaceae,
Gramineae, Leguminosae-Papilionoideae, Mimosaceae, Musaceae, Myrtaceae, Meliaceae,
Rutaceae, Sapotaceae, Tiliaceae, Vitaceae).
The organs most used from families are the fruits (40%), leaves (30%), bark of
the trunk (9%), seeds (8%), rhizomes (5%), followed by tubers (4%) and roots
(4%). The flowers (3%) are very few used.

Discussion

Present investigation indicates that people of Togo is blessing with
marvelous diversity of leafy vegetable plants. They consume and
conserve the plant species for their diverse uses. The tabulated plant species
showed
that the wrestlers consumed not only the dietary values but medicines
also. Most of the plants, which are enlisted in the Table
1, Table
2, Table
3, Table
4, Table
5 are widely used in the other parts of the world in similar or
different ways. For example, Cocos nucifera L. [34]
and Hibiscus sabdariffa L. [35] are widely used for
cosmetic purposes. Among the different plant parts used in this
study, leaves are secondary used after fruits. This result is not in accordance
with those
obtained by Jeyaprakash et al., [36], Mali & Bhadane
[37] and other studies [38-40]
who revealed that leaves are the most widely used plant parts.
Kabyès land is located in the grassland savannah which favours the growth of
herbs. Most societies and cultures have a sound knowledge of the biodiversity
in their environments as a result of long term experimentation and innovation
[41]. This may explain the use of many herbs in the traditional
food and medicinal practice in this region. Fruits and leaves of plants have
been reported to accumulate, antioxidants, vitamins, inulins, tannins and other
alkaloids [42] which may be responsible for their medicinal
properties, explaining their wide use. A large majority of the plants used as
traditional food plants in the study areas or elsewhere in the region lacks nutritional
evidences. Therefore, it is required that steps must be taken up to perform nutritional,
phytochemical and pharmacological studies to support and validate the potential
of local food plants. Many plant species have become threatened due to habitat
loss as result rapid urbanization and other anthropogenic factors. It suggests
that these findings be incorporated into future biodiversity management and valorization
plans.

Conclusion

This study reveals that many plants are used as food plants in the ground during Kabyè traditional wrestling. In view of these results, the local population must be educated on the rational use of these resources to not compromise their availability. Particular attention should be devoted to scientific research on food crops.